Review

Review Summary: Awesome songs hampered somewhat by sub par studio work - I need to get over it and just enjoy an awesome record.

POSITIVE:
There's no more exciting musicians working today than Karnivool. They take all the elements I love in music and bust their asses writing interesting and forward thinking songs. Asymmetry is a continuation of this. Songs are ***in brilliant - you have the occasional trite line from Ian Kenny, but lyrics are secondary to his melodies which are ACE.

NEGATIVE:
There is a muddiness to this record. It breathes FAR better at high volume.
If you read recent interviews with Hos/Kenny, they've explained that it's performances with little studio work.
Nick DiDia - perhaps he helped them focus in the studio, but the end result is one I wish were better production-wise.
Yeah, half the battle is recording correctly and capturing a good performance.
So if you're gonna take that approach, when you have something as sonically towering/perfect as Sound Awake to live up to, as tight a band as Karnivool is, you'd better be a master at mic placement and capture everything perfectly.

Or not. It's brave on their part, can't deny that. And it's not like it's completely gutted, the record sounds *solid*...it's simply not the crowning mix achievement that is Sound Awake. Perhaps the weight of such a career high has pushed them too far in the opposite direction. Find a middle ground boys, your genius writing deserves a master at the helm.

In reality this is a total bull*** proposition - the reason they were able to assemble these songs in this way had plenty to do with their experiences in the studio with Nick DiDia - but humor me - imagine these same tracks treated with the delicate perfectionism of SA - wouldn't that be more desirable?

I love karnivool. The songs are great on assymetry yet lack the production values of their previous effort. Vocalist Ian kenny isn't the most talented lyricist yet has excellent melodies that greatly compliment the solid musicianship.